76 per cent of NSE 500 companies have a woman director on their boards. The bad news is that many of them are still struggling to make an impact.

76 per cent of NSE 500 companies have a woman director on their boards. The bad news is that many of them are still struggling to make an impact.

The law has made it mandatory for companies to appoint at least one woman director on their boards and the good news is that it’s proven to be effective. According to Prime Database, 76 per cent of the NSE 500 companies now have a woman director on their boards. The not-so-good news is that many of them are still struggling to make an impact.

CII, along with the National Foundation for Corporate Governance, organised a workshop last week for women directors in Mumbai to address this issue. Among the speakers was Jyoti Narang, formerly an executive director with Taj Hotels and Resorts and now head of the India chapter of Women Corporate Directors, a worldwide organisation dedicated to championing the cause of women on boards. “Women directors need to create a network,” she said. “They need to be able to reach out and seek advice from other women. For men directors, the old boys’ network plays an important role.

” A former executive with Asset Reconstruction Company, Ameeta Trehan narrated the dynamics when she first joined as the sole independent woman director on the board of companies like Steelco Gujarat and Bheema Cements. “When a woman joins a company board as a director, the proceedings get much more formal. The male directors even come dressed more formally, in suits instead of shirtsleeves.

They’re respectful and ask your opinion, but they often overlook it while taking decisions.” One solution, everyone agreed, was to have more than one woman on the board. Former country head of UBS in India, Manisha Girotra is now an independent director on the boards of Mindtree and Ashok Leyland. “It was easy at Mindtree, since it already had women on the board when I joined. Board meetings were relaxed and informal.

At Ashok Leyland, I was the first woman to join the board and I had to work hard to earn my place. I did my homework; read up on truck technology. I didn’t want to be their token woman director,” she said.